Annual Cy-Hawk Birding Challenge!!
Labor Day Weekend 2023
The annual Cy-Hawk Birding Challenge is a friendly, spirited competition between birders from the Iowa City Bird Club and Big Bluestem Audubon Society of Ames. The tradition began in 2014 and has been gaining steam ever since. The event has been expanded from a single day to include the entire three-day Labor Day weekend (September 2-4). Starting this year, individuals may participate on ANY or ALL of the three days. Birders may form a team or bird solo. Hawkeye birders are limited to Johnson, Linn, Iowa, Louisa, and Muscatine counties. Cyclone birders are limited to Story, Polk, Boone, Dallas, and Madison counties.
The club with the most species at the end of the competition wins the coveted Kent-Dinsmore traveling trophy, a duck decoy painted black and gold on one side and cardinal and gold on the other side. And more importantly, the winning club gets bragging rights for the next year! With that said, it’s a playful competition and the day is really all about having fun.
There is also a fund-raising component – each participant is asked to donate $5 or more to Iowa Audubon. The contributions support Iowa Audubon’s bird conservation and education programs.
To participate, register ahead with Chris Edwards (check the events calendar on our website for contact information). Then during Labor Day weekend, you may bird for as little or as much as you like within the designated five-county area. At the end of each day, report your species list to Chris Edwards. Complete rules can be found at the link below. Go Hawks!
Cy-Hawk Big Day Challenge
September 2nd-4th, 2023
By Chris Edwards
This year’s Cy-Hawk Birding Challenge between the Iowa City Bird Club and Big Bluestem Audubon Society of Ames was held over Labor Day weekend, and it was a close one! But the Hawkeyes prevailed, 131 species to 127. Both teams had one outstanding bird – the continuing Limpkin at Lake Macbride for ICBC, and a Snowy Plover for BBAS. Big Bluestem also found Red Crossbills, a rarity but not unexpected given the many reports in recent weeks. ICBC had the edge in shorebirds (17 to 11) and warblers (16 to 14), but we missed a lot of common species that they found — Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Great Horned Owl, Wood Thrush, Orchard Oriole, Ovenbird, and both tanagers, among others.
It was a tough weekend for birding, with high temperatures in the mid-90s all three days. Most of our participants were out Saturday and ICBC got off to a strong start with 123 species, but we only managed to add 4 more on Sunday and 4 more on Monday. We had a total of 20 participants in 10 parties. Jim Kettelkamp had the highest one-day total with 84 species at Hawkeye Wildlife Area on Saturday.
